News & Event Details

White Eskimo: Knud Rasmussen's Fearless Journey into the Heart of the Arctic by Stephen R. Bown is one of three books to be shortlisted for the Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction at the Alberta Literary Awards, presented by the Writers' Guild of Alberta.

White Eskimo is the first full-length biography of Knud Rasmussen, an arctic explorer who—while considered a national hero in Denmark—has been relatively underexposed in Canada up until now. Rasmussen was unique because he felt so at home in with the people who lived in the arctic (he was half Inuit—from Greenland—on his mother's side). While the other explorers of the time were interested in accomplishing an amazing physical feat of being the first to get somewhere, Rasmussen was much more concerned about learning about the people he met on his travels.

Stephen Bown is the author of many critically acclaimed, award winning titles including most recently, Last Viking (2012 which was named amongst the Globe and Mail Best 100 Books of the Year. Born in Ottawa, he now lives in the Canmore with his wife and two children.

The Alberta Literary Awards recognize and celebrate the highest standards of literary excellence from Alberta authors. The other shortlisted titles in the nonfiction category are include Will Ferguson's Road Trip Rwanda (Viking Canada) and Andrew Nikiforuk's Slick Water (Greystone). The winner will be announced and awards presented at the Alberta Literary Awards Gala on June 4, 2016 in MacDonald Hall at SAIT in Calgary. The celebration will take place alongside the WGA 2016 Conference, “Creativity and Happiness.”